1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to epoxy resin adducts and thermoset matrices prepared using such adducts.
2. Description of Background and Related Art
Conventional epoxy resin adducts and their preparations have been described in various references. For example, an adduct of diethylenetriamine and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A is described by Henry Lee and Kris Neville in Handbook of Epoxy Resins published by McGraw Hill, Inc., New York, (1967) on pages 7-15 to 7-19. D.E.H.™ 52 (manufactured and marketed by The Dow Chemical Company) is a commercial adduct product of diethylenetriamine and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A.
Daniel A. Scola in Developments in Reinforced Plastics 4 published by Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Ltd., England, pages 196-206 (1984) describes amine adducts of epoxy resins. The epoxy resin is selected from the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A, tetraglycidyl 4,4′-diaminodiphenylmethane, triglycidyl p-aminophenol, epoxy phenol or cresol novalacs, hydrogenated diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A, or any combination thereof. The amine may be an aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic or alkylaromatic diamine.
J. Klee, et al. in Crosslinked Epoxies published by Walter de Gruyter and Co., Berlin, pages 47-54 (1987) describes the synthesis and analytical characterization of adducts of the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A with primary monoamines including aniline, p-chloroaniline, benzylamine and cyclohexylamine.
Adducts of the epoxy resin of UNOXOL™ Diol (cis-, trans-1,3- and 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol), curable blends and thermosets thereof are disclosed in WO2009142898 A1. However, heretofore the prior art has not disclosed an adduct formed by reacting an epoxy resin comprising a polyfunctional aliphatic or cycloaliphatic oligomeric product with a reactive compound comprising two or more reactive hydrogen atoms per molecule. There is also no disclosure in the prior art of preparing a curable epoxy resin composition comprising said adduct; or curing the curable epoxy resin composition to form a cured epoxy resin product.